Tailor
Excellent
The main run. Fish the gutters and headlands into the evening; ganged pilchards, metals, and a wire-free trace only if you accept the bite-offs.
Cronulla Fishing Report
Updated Fri, 25 Sept 2026 from live weather and tide data
Sydney’s southern beaches and Port Hacking: the Cronulla rocks and beaches, Gunnamatta and Burraneer bays, and the mouth of the Hacking, with tailor, bream, kingfish and squid.
2/5
Slow. Work for them.Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.
Next tide
High 6:38 pm model
Air / High
18 °C / 24 °C
Wind
NNE 5 km/h
Sources: modelled tide curve, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Today's Fishing Report
Cronulla is in its cool-water rhythm: slower presentations and the warmest hours of the day. Today brings clear skies, wind NNE around 5 km/h, rising pressure near 1026 hPa and a high of 24 °C. Tides: high 6:30 am and 6:38 pm, low 12:21 pm: the moving water either side of each change is when this place feeds. Water sits around 17 °C for the season (estimated). With the full moon, the solunar majors run 10:25 AM-12:25 PM and 10:25 PM-12:25 AM: the windows to build the day around.
Australian salmon
Good
The main season. Beach gutters, rock platforms and bay edges on the rising tide; metals, surf poppers and bait all work.
Mulloway
Fair
The estuary fish move to the deeper reaches. Long, quiet sessions on the bottom with fresh bait across the top of the tide.
Yellowtail kingfish
Slow
The fish thin out as the current cools; jig the deeper offshore marks and work the harbours on the warmer afternoons.
Tie on: Blade or vibe, slow hops · Lightly weighted plastic · Whole pilchard or squid on the bottom · Suspending hardbody. Prime windows: 10:25 AM-12:25 PM, 10:25 PM-12:25 AM, 4:55 AM-5:55 AM. Warmer at 28 °C. The solunar majors shift about 50 minutes later.
Before you go
New South Wales requires a fishing licence for most fishing, from A$7.00. New South Wales fishing licence: cost, rules and where to buy →
Chasing tailor here? Check the size and bag limits with DPIRD NSW before you keep anything; the Tailor page has the seasons and the tactics.
Fishing times for Cronulla today
Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today from sunrise (05:41), sunset (17:53), the moon and today's score, with the modelled tide changes in the panel below. Tap a bar to see why.
Bite planner
Solunar majors 10:25 AM-12:25 PM and 10:25 PM-12:25 AM; minor 4:55 AM-5:55 AM. Full Moon, 99% lit.
Water and weather
A modelled tide curve for these coordinates and the forecast for the day.
Tides (modelled)
Modelled sea level curve from Open-Meteo Marine for these coordinates, datum mean sea level. Fish the moving water either side of each change.
A model, not the official prediction: times can drift by tens of minutes inside bays and estuaries. Check the Bureau of Meteorology tide predictions for the exact times before you rely on them.
Fri
HIGH6:30 am0.43 m
LOW12:21 pm-0.49 m
HIGH6:38 pm0.68 m
Sat
LOW12:58 am-0.66 m
HIGH7:08 am0.58 m
LOW1:02 pm-0.52 m
HIGH7:12 pm0.71 m
Right now
Latest readings
Air temp18 °C
High / Low24 °C / 15 °C
WindNNE 5 km/h, gusts 13 km/h
Pressure1026.0 hPa, rising
Sky / Rain0% cloud, 18%
Sunrise / Sunset05:41 / 17:53
MoonFull Moon, 99%
Water temp (seasonal)~17 °C est.
Why the tide matters here: tides and fishing in Australia.
7-day fishing forecast: which day to fish Cronulla
The best day on Cronulla this week looks like Monday 28 Sept, at 4 out of 5, against 2 today. Every day is scored by the same engine as the report above: pressure trend first, then wind, sky and season. Pick a species and the plan for that day changes with it.
Best day this week: Monday, 28 Sept — good at 4/5, falling pressure, usually the best window of a week.
Today, 25 Sept — Tough
Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.
- Solunar majors
- 10:25 AM-12:25 PM and 10:25 PM-12:25 AM
- Minor period
- 4:55 AM-5:55 AM
- Sun
- 05:41 to 17:53
- Moon
- Full Moon, 99% lit
- Sky and wind
- Overcast, 16 km/h
- Rain chance
- 18%
Scores are a planning aid built from forecast data, not a promise.
Species guide
The species that matter on Cronulla: seasons written for the southern year, and how to fish each one. Today's ratings live in the report above.
Tailor
Autumn and winter on the east coast; August to September on Fraser Island
The surf and rock fish of the east coast, running north in autumn and winter. Fast, toothy and best at dawn, dusk and into the dark. The main run. Fish the gutters and headlands into the evening; ganged pilchards, metals, and a wire-free trace only if you accept the bite-offs.
Mulloway
Best: summer and autumn, especially after rain
Jewfish. The big silver prize of the estuaries, breakwalls and surf beaches: nocturnal, tide-driven and unforgiving of noise. The estuary fish move to the deeper reaches. Long, quiet sessions on the bottom with fresh bait across the top of the tide.
Yellowtail kingfish
Best: December to April
The hardest-pulling fish within reach of the shore. Headlands, harbour markers, offshore reefs and the warm current in summer. The fish thin out as the current cools; jig the deeper offshore marks and work the harbours on the warmer afternoons.
Australian salmon
Winter and spring on the southern beaches
Not a salmon at all: a hard-fighting schooling fish of the surf and the bays, from WA around to NSW. Great on light gear, poor on the plate. The main season. Beach gutters, rock platforms and bay edges on the rising tide; metals, surf poppers and bait all work.
When to come: the Cronulla calendar
Activity by species and month for the southern year, and how the water warms and cools. Tap any cell.
Species activity by month
1 = slow, 5 = peak. Current month highlighted. January is midsummer here.
J
F
M
A
M
J
J
A
S
O
N
D
Tailor
Mulloway
Yellowtail kingfish
Australian salmon
SlowPeak
Water temperature through the year
Typical surface temperature for this water type in degrees Celsius; today is around 17 °C (estimated, not a reading).
Angler reports
Real reports from real anglers, reviewed before publishing. Nothing here is copied from a shop or a charter. The water log below tracks each day automatically.
No angler reports yetBe the first: your report helps every angler who checks Cronulla today.
Water log, last days
Auto-logged from live dataThu, Sep 24
3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Tailor led the card at excellent. High of 22 °C, wind to 16 km/h.
Wed, Sep 23
3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Tailor led the card at excellent. High of 19 °C, wind to 16 km/h.
Tue, Sep 22
3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Tailor led the card at excellent. High of 17 °C, wind to 18 km/h.
Before you go
Licence
NSW Recreational Fishing Fee, from A$7.00, the same for residents and visitors. Details and where to buy →
Regulations
Size and bag limits, closed seasons and marine park zones are set by DPIRD NSW and change: confirm the current rules on the agency page linked from the New South Wales licence page before you keep anything.
Access
The NSW Recreational Fishing Fee applies at Cronulla from A$7 for three days; the New South Wales licence page has the fees.
About this water
Cronulla is a coastal town in New South Wales, Australia, covered from the New South Wales reports and listed in all Australia waters.
Fishing Cronulla: the full guide
Cronulla and Port Hacking
Cronulla is the beach suburb on the southern edge of Sydney, on the peninsula between Bate Bay and Port Hacking, with the long beaches from North Cronulla to Wanda, the rock platforms at Cronulla Point and Shelly, Gunnamatta and Burraneer bays on the Port Hacking side, and the Royal National Park across the water. It is a beaches-and-estuary suburb, and the report on this page is scored for the suburb’s coordinates. Botany Bay has its own page.
Species and seasons
Tailor and salmon run the beaches and the point in the cooler months at dawn and dusk; bream fish the Port Hacking bays, the wharves and the rocks all year; kingfish come to the Port Hacking markers and the point in summer; squid work the Gunnamatta weed and the wharf lights; whiting fish the beaches and the Hacking flats in summer; flathead lie on the Hacking sand from spring to autumn; luderick and drummer hold on the point in winter; and the reef outside gives snapper for the boats out of the Hacking.
Where to fish it
The Cronulla Point and Shelly platforms are the tailor and drummer rocks, and the beaches from North Cronulla to Wanda are the tailor and whiting gutters; on the Port Hacking side the Gunnamatta Bay baths and wharves are the bream and squid marks, and Burraneer Bay’s moorings hold the kingfish in summer. The ramps are at Gunnamatta and Burraneer, and Lilli Pilli is the flathead flat upriver.
Reading this report here
The beaches face east and a southerly or an easterly swell closes them and the point, while Port Hacking stays sheltered; the wind row decides which side. The tide panel is a modelled curve for the coordinates of Cronulla, labelled as a model, useful for the run in the Hacking. Pressure and sky build the score at Cronulla; the planner shows the day.
Licence, access and rules
The NSW Recreational Fishing Fee applies at Cronulla from A$7 for three days; the New South Wales licence page has the fees. The beaches, the point and the bay foreshores are public, with ramps at Gunnamatta and Burraneer; the Shiprock aquatic reserve in Port Hacking, the DPIRD limits and the life-jacket rule for the rocks are in the sources.
Common questions
What can I catch in Port Hacking?
Bream in the bays and on the wharves, kingfish at the markers in summer, squid on the weed, whiting on the flats and flathead on the sand in the warm months.
Do I need a licence at Cronulla?
Yes: the NSW Recreational Fishing Fee, from A$7 for three days.
Is fishing good at Cronulla right now?
Check the daily report at the top of this page: it is regenerated every morning from live data. Today's read: Slow. Work for them. Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.
Nearby waters
Where this page's numbers come from
- Tide curve (modelled)
- Open-Meteo Marine, sea level height including tides
- Open-Meteo forecast model
- https://open-meteo.com/
- Moon and solunar windows
- Calculated on this site
- The written guide on this page
Pablo Ruiz Quintero
Readings refresh on a 30-minute window. The full method, with every figure and its source, is on How our reports are made. Something wrong here? Tell us and it goes in the log with the date.